Poetry cache on Mac (~/Library/Caches/pypoetry): safe to delete?

What it is

Poetry uses ~/Library/Caches/pypoetry as its cache directory on macOS. It holds cached package archives and repository metadata, and unless you've enabled in-project virtualenvs, it's also where Poetry creates each project's virtual environment.

Why it gets so big

Each project gets its own virtualenv per Python version, and cached archives build up as dependencies change. Environments for abandoned projects stay behind long after you've stopped working on them.

Is it safe to delete?

Yes, everything here can be recreated. Deleted downloads are fetched again, and a project whose virtualenv was removed only needs poetry install to rebuild it, which takes a while for large dependency sets. Note that Poetry's own cache clear command removes just the package cache, while emptying the whole folder removes those environments too.

Tip

Setting virtualenvs.in-project makes Poetry create each environment in a .venv folder inside the project, so deleting the project cleans it up as well.